FBI Recommends No Charges Against Hillary Clinton in Email Probe

FBI Director James Comey announced Monday morning that the agency would not recommend criminal charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The FBI had been investigating her usage of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department.

"Although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case," Comey said, adding that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."

However, he made clear that Secretary Clinton's behavior merited criticism. “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly sensitive classified information,” Mr. Comey said.

Comey and his team of investigators had examined previous, similar cases in which charges were brought. "All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of information exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice," he said. "We do not see those things here."

This morning's announcement had been highly anticipated for months, by all sides of the political world, but particularly by the two competing major presidential campaigns. Secretary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, and this investigation has hampered her campaign and added to voters' concerns over her trustworthiness. The campaign will certainly be relieved at the FBI's decision not to recommend criminal charges.

The presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has indicated that today's news will not change his ongoing description of Secretary Clinton as dishonest.